A recent telemarketing call on our landline was identified on the Caller ID as "Phone Scam." We didn't answer it and filed a complaint with the federal Do Not Call list, as if that will help.

A couple of years ago I received something in the mail from the Do Not Call list people saying they were pursuing one of my complaints, so maybe that agency does try to do something about unauthorized telemarketing calls. I'm not sure why they went to the trouble of mailing me something, though, should have used that money for direct enforcement.

We have lately been receiving recorded Spanish-speaking calls on our pre-paid cell phones, and looking up the phone number on one of the "Who Called Us?" sites I see that a lot of pre-paid customers are receiving that type of call. I get the feeling the cell phone companies are selling our numbers to the telemarketers and they are assuming that a lot of Spanish speakers use pre-paids so are taking a shot at us being a potential customer.

In defense of our cell phone company, maybe it's easy for the phone spammers to use computers to come up with a list of numbers to call - just figure out what bloc of numbers has been issued to Tracfone in a given area code and dial them all in sequence. Not that I think Tracfone has any scruples about selling our phone number.

Something interesting from the Internet:

"Your utility companies (water, gas, electric, cable, garbage, etc) collect contact information from their customers and sell that list to their marketing "affiliates". Most of the time, you've agreed to allow them to do it when you sign up. If asked, they will assure you that they are only sharing with THEIR affiliates for the purposes of product research.

Unfortunately, there is nothing stopping those affiliates from collecting this information and selling it to anyone who wants to buy a list.

Comcast and Waste Management are the worst when it comes to sharing your personal information with others. Another source of problems come from signing up for those supermarket "loyalty" cards. You are essentially putting your phone number directly onto a call list yourself."

Is there a solution? Maybe. It requires some action on the part of the consumer.

According to the website Dummies.com we need to write a letter to all of our vendors specifically telling them we do not want our information shared with their affiliates unless we give written permission, this includes any organization that sends you one of those privacy notices. You'll find a sample letter on that website, and more information about where to send it.

I think I'm going to try this for a year: respond to all those mailed privacy notices with this form letter, and proactively mail out the letters to my utility companies. But since they already have our phone numbers and have given them out, I don't think it's going to do much good unless we get new numbers.